


Alex

by Foxeh



Series: Applied Necromancy [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Magic, Necromancy, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 16:45:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13299012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxeh/pseuds/Foxeh
Summary: Summer gets her first peek at the inner workings of a zombie.





	Alex

“Could you get that?”  Johann was lounging as only he could, sprawling on the couch, not doing anything.  No television, no music, just that weird utterly complete stillness only the undead could achieve.  Summer was pretty sure the only part of his body that moved just then was his mouth, and only his mouth.  If he’d moved so much as his eyes she’d be shocked. 

 “The door's supposed to be _your_ responsibility first. You can't shove it off on me.”  _He’s being awfully cavalier about this all of the sudden_ , she thought. 

 “You’re the apprentice, I’m the familiar.  Which of us will still be here in ten years?  Besides, it’s just Alex.  Shabby zombie, can’t turn his head, with the police.  I just got comfortable.”     

 Sure enough, at the door was a shabby zombie, complete with a cop car just beginning to pull away from the driveway.  He was white, with short, stubbly hair that could’ve been blonde or could’ve been light brown.  His eyes bothered her.  They were sunken and hollow, but also the lightest blue she’d ever seen.  She’d met a husky dog with eyes like that once, but never a person.  One hand clutched at his stomach.  He stared for a moment, then spoke with a soft monotone.

 “Um…hello?  I’m Alex.” 

 “Hi, Alex, I’m Summer.  _Johann_ said you could come in.”  She was _not_ going to take the heat for this.  She should’ve said no and made Johann open the door.  After all, she was a necromancer, and he was a zombie.  Wasn’t she supposed to have all the power?

 Alex shuffled in.  He was the most zombie-like zombie she’d met in her short time as apprentice.  Johann moved without the slightest stiffness, and even Susie could manage more human-like motion, but Alex’s movement was slow and shambling.  His skin, too, was drier, like badly-kept leather. 

 Summer led him to the shed, where Doc was laying out tools on a tray.  Needles, forceps, hemostats, and some kind of thread called, of all things, “ceiling fan.”  It didn’t look surgical grade, much less sterile.  She didn’t look up as they walked in.

 “Alex, did you get hit by a car again?”

 “No, a knife this time.  Stomach’s open.”  His face was as stiff and unyielding as his gait, although Summer thought she saw his lips twitch. 

 “How much inside did you lose?” 

 Alex shrugged stiffly.  “Nothing important, just a quarter.” 

 Doc helped him onto the table.  She handed Summer a pair of scissors.  “Cut that hoodie off of him.” 

 Summer took the scissors, lifted the bottom hem of the hoodie, and began to cut.  It fell away to reveal a too-skinny torso, ribs showing starkly despite the skin.  There was a cut across his stomach, but it was as if someone had slashed an unstuffed toy.  No blood, no mess, although some…stuff…was clearly in there.  She worked the hoodie off his arms and pulled what was left of it out from underneath him. 

 Doc handed a chopstick to Summer.  “Check to see if he’s got all his organs.  Don’t be shy, he’ll tell you if you’re hurting him.”

 Summer carefully spread open the cut.  Everything inside was as dry and leathery as his skin.  His intestines rustled like leaves.  Nothing looked the way it should, and his abdomen was filled with junk.  Dried leaves, small packets tied with string, everything covered in a dusty powder and…salt?  Even identifying the major organs was difficult.  She was struggling.  _Liver or stomach?_  

 “Do zombies _need_ their organs?” she finally asked.

 “Yeah.  They can stay animated for a while without them, but eventually they’ll start to weaken.  In a pinch, you can sub something in for one with sympathetic magic, but even that’s not gonna keep them animate for more than a couple of years.  Best to keep their own organs.  Even better if they’re still attached.” 

 Doc eventually came over and guided her through.  Alex’s organs had been imperfectly preserved, and some were simply mangled.  The knife had sliced into his intestines and nicked a small packet of herbs.  Doc carefully stitched up both.

 “What was that quarter, Alex?  Birth or death?”  The zombie had been staring hard at the ceiling, and moved only his eyes in response to Doc’s question.

 “Death.”  He sounded sad. “Seventy-two.” 

 “Go see if we’ve got a seventy-two quarter, Summer.  If we don’t, have Susie call Joaquin or the chapterhouse.” 

 “I—I thought that was a joke.”  Summer said.

 “No joke,” Doc said.  “Magic.”

**Author's Note:**

> I decided against first-person narration for the Summer Marshall stories, but that's a thing that happens when you're doing a rough draft. Things may change by the time you read this. 
> 
> I wasn't originally going to post this fragment. I dearly wanted to introduce Alex, but the first draft was clunky and terrible and not very interesting. I ended up rewriting it, and this is much better. Also, posting things for people to maybe possibly actually read sometime somewhere gives me the incentive I need to actually, you know, write more. Otherwise I'd never bother.


End file.
